UNIFIL peacekeepers deployed at Kfar Shouba, on the Lebanese-Israeli border. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — "Local individuals" of Hay al-Sellom, in the Southern Suburbs of Beirut, intercepted a UN Interim Force (UNIFIL) vehicle and briefly detained peacekeepers on Thursday night, according to a UNIFIL spokesperson, commenting on an incident that made the rounds in local media outlets.
"Last night, a peacekeeping vehicle on a routine logistical movement to Beirut ended up on an unplanned route, the vehicle was stopped, peacekeepers were detained by local individuals and were later released," UNIFIL deputy spokesperson Kandice Ardiel told L'Orient Today on Friday.
UNIFIL did not comment further on how the vehicle arrived in Hay al-Sellom.
"We are looking into the circumstances of what happened, but peacekeepers were not harmed," Ardiel added.
Hezbollah, the ISF and the Southern Suburbs Municipalities Union were not immediately available for comment.
UNIFIL, which was set up in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon, is mainly present in southern Lebanon. While tensions regularly occur between the UNIFIL and local residents in the area, predominantly inhabited by supporters of Hezbollah, Thursday's occurrence is significant because it happened in the Southern Suburbs of Beirut.
Resolution 1701, reached between Israel and Lebanon in 2006 after the July war, gave explicit power to UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army on what is known as the Blue Line, which demarcates the line separating Lebanon from Israel.
"We emphasize that, in addition to freedom of movement inside UNIFIL’s area of operations, peacekeepers have the freedom and authorization from the Lebanese Government to move throughout Lebanon for administrative and logistical reasons. This freedom of movement is essential to the implementation of Resolution 1701," Ardiel added.
The issue of the freedom of movement of the UN peacekeepers was central last year during the talks about renewing UNIFIL's mandate.
Lebanon and Hezbollah demanded a limit to UNIFIL's freedom of movement and, on Aug. 28, 2023, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah warned of a possible exacerbation of tensions in southern Lebanon between the inhabitants and UNIFIL if the UN force's mandate is renewed by maintaining article 16, which allows peacekeepers to move "without prior authorization" and "independently" of the Lebanese army. A few days later, UNIFIL's mandate was extended without any amendment to the final text and did not answer Lebanon's demands.
According to the adopted resolution 2659, the UN force can continue to "conduct its operations independently," but the text also stipulates that it must "coordinate with the Lebanese government."
The text also demands that all parties allow UNIFIL peacekeepers to conduct "announced and unannounced" patrols without "any restriction or hindrance to the movement of UNIFIL personnel, and guarantee their freedom of movement."
Over the past years, many disputes have occurred between UNIFIL peacekeepers and local residents in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah is dominant. Residents have objected to peacekeepers driving their vehicles through residential areas.
On Dec. 14, 2022, Hezbollah allegedly killed a UNIFIL Irish soldier and wounded three others when their vehicle was attacked near the village of al-Aqbiya, in Southern Lebanon.
In another incident, on Dec. 27, 2023, a UN peacekeeper was hurt in Taybeh (Marjayoun) when a group of young men attacked a patrol and tried to stop it from moving through their village.